66 66 I. "world, is a manifest proof against them, that, in CHAP. soul, they are not holy, but turned aside to the things of the world. For as the palate of a "sick man, distempered from good meat, moveth "him to covet things contrary to his health, so it "is with the soul of man when it savoureth not "of the law of God. And as the want of na"tural appetite is a deadly sign to man, so a wanting of spiritual relish for God's word is a sign of his second death." Yet men are said to judge of their participation in the favour of God, by the success of their worldly enterprises. But to expose this error, it is observed, we should "leave these sensible signs, and take the example "of holy men, as of Christ, and his apostles; how 66 66 66 they had not their bliss on earth, but that here "Christ ordained them pain, and the hatred of "the world, even much suffering to the men "whom he most loved,-and this, to teach us "how to follow him." It is therefore said to follow, that in this world the marks of patient suffering should much rather be taken as those which bespeak the love of God. 28 between The connexion between this independence of Connection terrestrial evils, and the faith of the gospel, is faith and thus pointed out. "If thou hast a full belief of 66 Christ, how he lived here on the earth, and "how he overcame the world, thou also over"comest it, as a kind son. For if thou takest "heed how Christ despised the world, and fol"lowest him here, as thou shouldst by the faith "of the Father, thou must needs overcome it. "And here it is manifest what many men are in 28 Hom. Bib. Reg. p. 78. devotion. СНАР. 66 66 this world. They are not born of God, nor do they believe in Christ. For if this belief were "in them, they should follow Christ in the manner of his life, but they are not of faith, as will "be known in the day of doom. What man "should fully believe that the day of doom will "be anon, and that God shall then judge men, "after what they have been in his cause, and not prepare himself to follow Christ for this blessing thereof? Either the belief of such men "sleepeth, or they want a right belief; since men who love this world, and rest in the lusts thereof, live as if God had never spoken as in "his word, or would fail to judge them for their doing. To all christian men, therefore, the "faith of Christ's life is needful, and hence we "should know the gospel, for this telleth the be"lief of Christ." 66 66 66 29 29 Hom. Bib. Reg p. 70. It may be due to myself to state, that previous to the publication of the present work, no information, at all satisfactory, as to the general character of these homilies had been presented to the public, nor have they been at all quoted, so as to assist the reader in forming any judgment respecting them. Note to the second edition. CHAPTER II. WYCLIFFE'S HISTORY OF ATTEMPTS TOWARD A TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO EXTRACTS EXHIBITING THE REFORMER'S MANNER OF DEFENDING THIS EFFORT. THE INSURRECTION OF THE COMMONS. Three II. THAT the gospel was known to the people of CHAP. this island, before the close of the first century, is the general testimony of historians.' centuries, also, intervened, before that connexion between the subject provinces of Britain and the capital of the empire, which had led to this diffusion of christianity, was dissolved. We have no authority, however, for supposing, that any portion of the sacred writings was possessed by our Celtic ancestors, during that period, in the vernacular tongue. With the few, indeed, who could read, the Latin, though introduced by their conquerors, was the principal object of attention;" and the importance of obtaining the scriptures in their own dialect, which this circumstance served greatly to diminish, was probably overlooked. Subsequently, the religion of the Britons must Usher, Stillingfleet, Collier. 2 Tacitus, Vita Agric. c. xxi. Gildas, Hist. The last writer observes, that from the prevalence of the Latin lan- CHAP. have suffered much from their protracted war II. with the Saxons; and after the arrival of Augustine, nearly a century was occupied in bringing the disciples of Odin to their partial acknowledgment of the God of the Christians. Attempts toward a translation of the scrip Anglo- 600. 3 It was in the seventh century that Cedman, an Anglo-Saxon monk, produced a composition, tures by the Which claimed the attention of his countrymen, as exhibiting the first application of their language to sacred poetry; and as the first attempt to render any part of the inspired volume in the speech of our forefathers. This poem, which has all the marks of the antiquity assigned to it, includes the leading events of Old Testament history, as the creation of the world, the fall of angels and of man, the deluge, the departure from Egypt, the entrance upon Canaan, with some subsequent occurrences. In the following century, Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne; and Guthlac, the celebrated anchoret, are among the authors of the Anglo-Saxon versions of the Psalter. In the same age, the venerable Bede prefers his claim to the honour of a literal trans 700. 3 Bede, iv. 24.-On this interesting subject, Mr. Lewis's volume, intitled "A History of the English Translations of the Bible," is well known; also a lesser work by Johnson. The latter production, however, though frequently cited as an authority, and honoured with a place among bishop Watson's Theological Tracts, is strangely inaccurate. I have found no better guide than Mr. Baber, a gentleman to whose discernment the public are indebted for a reprint of Wycliffe's New Testament. To that work a chapter is prefixed, intitled, "An Historical Account "of the Saxon and English Versions "of the Scriptures, previous to the opening of the Fifteenth Century," and it determines every question on this subject to the time of Wycliffe. The brief memoirs of our reformer, published in connexion with the same work, I should have noticed in the Preface, had I not been sensible that the writer is too well acquainted with these things, not to be fully aware, that his notices respecting the sacred scriptures, and his enlarged and revised catalogue of the Wycliffe manuscripts, impart to that portion of his publication its chief value. 4 6 II. lation of St. John's gospel. A manuscript copy CHAP. of the Latin gospels, with a Saxon version interlined, known by the name of the Durham book, is attributed on probable evidence to about the time of Alfred." The Rushworth Gloss, is a 900. Latin transcript of the same portion of the sacred volume, with a Saxon translation, introduced after the same manner, the latter being apparently the production of the tenth century. Among the valuable manuscripts of Benet College, Cambridge, is a third copy of the gospels in the Saxon tongue, written a little before the conquest; and a fourth, which belongs to the same 1050. period, and appears to have been copied from the former, may be seen in the Bodleian library." But an ecclesiastic, who did more than all his brethren toward supplying his countrymen with the scriptures in their own language, was Elfric. This industrious scholar lived during the reign. of Ethelred, and subscribes himself, at different periods, as monk, mass priest, and abbot. In his 1000. epitome of the Old and New Testament, composed for Sigwerd, a nobleman, we are informed, that at the request of various persons, he had translated the Pentateuch, the books of Joshua and Judges, those of Esther, Job, and Judith, also the two books of Maccabees, with part of the first and second book of Kings. Alfred, Baber. Cuthberti Vita Ven. Bedæ. 5 It is preserved in the British Museum, Nero, D.iv. and is described by Mr. Baber, as the finest specimen of Saxon calligraphy and decoration extant. 6 This is in the Bodleian, D. xxiv. No. 3964. It derived its name from 8 its former possessor, John Rushworth, 7 Ibid. 8 Turner's Hist. iii. 442. Baber. The extent of Elfric's labours is learnt, as stated above, from various incidental notices occurring in such of |